Ella Clark has been in love with
Alex Grayson forever. She’s tired of being invisible—or worse, being treated
like his kid sister. If she can just get him to drop his iron-fisted control
for two seconds, she’ll prove she knows exactly how to blow his mind.

Alex has been fighting his
attraction to Ella since her should-have-been-innocent sweet sixteen kiss
burned down his world. He's damaged, and there's no way he'll ever drag her
into his screwed up life. Until she offers him something he's always
craved—steamy, no-strings sex inside his exclusive BDSM club. Where she'll be
safe from the darkness that haunts him.

Except there's nothing safe about
being with Ella, and the more she gives, the harder it is to let her go. If he
stays, he risks everything, but how can he walk away from the only woman he's
ever needed?

(Ella’s
just told Alex that she’s leaving Grayson’s, and Alex has gone round to her
apartment to try and talk her out of it…)

Guilt twisted through her again.
Before he’d taken her into Grayson’s
she’d been floundering, her self-confidence still in bad shape after her mom’s
asshole boyfriend had cornered her when she’d been fourteen. Her succession of
part-time and casual jobs was nothing to brag about, and the only constant in
her life had been her volunteer work at the Wildlife Retreat.

“I’m not leaving you in the shit.
There’s plenty of time to find a replacement for me.”

He gave her a smoldering look. Oh,
for fuck’s sake… “No one could take your place.”

If only he were talking about her as a
woman and not his indispensable work colleague.

“Hate to say it, but you’ll probably
be surprised.”

He didn’t immediately deny it, which
stung more than it should.

“You plan on staying in touch?”

She couldn’t tell by his tone of voice
whether he gave a damn one way or the other. So much for no one being able to
take her place. Looked like he was already over it.

Don’t you dare say it. Heat flooded through her, but the
words spilled out anyhow. “I might come visit you in your club one night.”

At least it wiped that infuriating,
unreadable expression from his face. He stared at her as though she’d just
grown a pair of horns.

“I don’t think so.”

It was the note of finality in his
voice that really pissed her off—as if he thought she was joking and he didn’t
find it funny.

“Why not? I think I’d really get off
on a night at your club.” Take that. If only she didn’t look so rough.
It was hard trying to act like a sophisticated woman of the world when she was
barefoot and Alex could’ve stepped off the cover of GQ.

“Didn’t know you were into that
scene.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about
me.” Including the fact I sleep in one of your old shirts. At least he
hadn’t recognized it. Then again, it was about three years old. He’d left it
here when the brothers had helped her move in, and somehow she kept forgetting
to give it back to him.

Accidentally on purpose.

“I would’ve known about this.”

Was he laughing at her? He didn’t look as if he was, but it
was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Whatever. She wasn’t backing down.

“I might not be hardcore, but that
doesn’t mean I don’t like to experiment now and then.”

“Define what you mean by
‘experimenting.’”

He damn well was laughing at
her. What’s the kinkiest thing I’ve read lately? “Ménages.” That’d shut
him up. Or turn him on.

“You enjoy having sex with two men at
the same time?”

She glared at him. “You find it so
hard to believe that two men would want me?”

“That’s not what I find hard to
believe.”

His quick-fire response took her
breath away. Trust Alex to compliment and insult her in one easy comment.

She cleared her throat, which kind of
ruined the worldly aura she was going for, but it was better than choking on
her own words. “So, does your club cater for that kind of thing?”

What was she saying? She’d die if he called her bluff.

He didn’t answer right away. His eyes
were all dark and smoky and it was suddenly hard to breathe properly. He seemed
to be considering her question, which sent prickles of alarmed excitement over
her bare skin.

Christina Phillips is an ex-pat Brit who now lives in sunny
Western Australia with her high school sweetheart and their family. She enjoys
writing paranormal, historical and contemporary romance where the stories
sizzle and the heroine brings her hero to his knees.

She’s addicted to good coffee, expensive chocolate and bad boy
heroes. Christina is also owned by three gorgeous cats who are convinced the
universe revolves around their needs. They are not wrong.